Indian Student, The

DESCRIPTION: "O Give me back my bended bow ... You took me from my native wild." The singer has studied the White's "ancient pages" but now "I long to see my native home." "I hate the antiquated halls; I hate the Grecian poet's song."
AUTHOR: "Mrs. L. L. D. J." (source: Finson)
EARLIEST DATE: 1851 (source: Finson)
KEYWORDS: home separation lament nonballad Indians(Am.)
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Thompson-APioneerSongster 78, "The Indian Student" (1 text)
Flanders-ChapBook Flanders-VermontChapBook, pp. 6-9, "The Indian Student" (1 text, very different from Thompson's)
ADDITIONAL: Jon W. Finson, _The Voices That Are Gone: Themes in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Song_, Oxford University Press, 1994, pp. 244-246 (1 partial text with partial tune)
Roud #2844
NOTES [86 words]: Jon W. Finson, The Voices That Are Gone: Themes in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Song, Oxford University Press, 1994, says "The most explicit portrayal of the unadaptable Native American [which he regards as a common mid-nineteenth-century motif] appears in 'The Indian Student' (dedicated to Mrs. Mary Gentry, 1851) by 'Mrs. L. L. D. J.'" The composer used a minor tune to suggest a lament, and some Scottish feeling to the combination of words and tune, comparing it to "My Heart's in the Highlands." - RBW
Last updated in version 4.2
File: TPS078

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